[BACKSIM] Lt JG Sera - I & D (Part One)
Hope Forster
((Circular enclosed courtyard with benches and a small water fountain at the center – Shi’Kahr District))
Sera had found herself wandering after the New Year’s party on the SS Belladonna had wound to a close. She wasn’t quite certain how exactly she found this small courtyard in the Shi’Kahr district, which was quite a ways from her quarters. However, the feeling of it reminded her of home, and she took a seat at one of the benches spaced equidistantly apart surrounding the bubbling fountain in a perfect circle. She stared at nothing really, though her eyes were generally fixed on the flowing water.
The chocolate had not been one of her more logical…or perhaps intelligent decisions, as the euphoric effects were wearing off and she was left with a sense of profound…emptiness. Sherlock had spent half the party explaining Terran traditions regarding this particular celebration, and Sera soaked it in – finding some of the customs most interesting, if inexplicable. However, part of learning was comparing past experiences or knowledge to find a meaningful way to categorize the new information, and pulling up knowledge of her life on Vulcan, in this current state…well it made her feel things.
Isolation…loneliness…longing…grief. They were old friends, in a way, following her since leaving home and entering a new life as an academy cadet…and they were still here. Oh, she had become quite proficient at subsuming them, locking them away in a box that was conveniently shoved into a mental closet marked, “OFF LIMITS – DO NOT OPEN.” Nonetheless, here they were, in the forefront of her mind, filling her soul with something that caused discomfort behind her breastbone, a dull pain that made each breath a miserable chore.
A rustling of clothing jolted her from her musings, and Sera reached up and wiped at her face, unsure of why it was wet.
Nalaat: ::In a crisply accented Vulcan that spoke of growing up in Gol:: It is quite late to sit in such contemplation...
Sera’s head whipped to the voice, and she caught herself with her hand on the bench seat as the motion held a little too much momentum. She looked up to see an adult Vulcan male, with slight salting of his hair around his brow line, wearing robes of an indeterminate color…it was quite late, wasn’t it?
Sera: It…the courtyard is quite placid at this hour.
Nalaat motioned with his hand, asking permission to sit, and Sera nodded once, giving assent, and he settled a respectful distance from her on the stone slab.
Nalaat: I have never seen you here before, miss…
Sera: ::sighing in a very un-Vulcan-like manner:: S’Ers-a
Nalaat: Ah…S’Ers-a. Your accent, it is quite unique. I have never heard one like it.
Sera looked down to her hands which were gripped tightly together in her lap. Her anxiety speaking with one of her own was visible in the whitening of her knuckles, and she forced them to relax.
Sera: I was born in Jia'anKahr.
She turned her gaze from her hands to the profile of the stranger sitting next to her and waited.
Nalaat: That is far south. Very remote if I recall my geography correctly.
Sera blew air out of her nose at his self-deprecating statement. Of course, he would recall it correctly – every Vulcan had been taught about the Lyr’Taya region…and what peoples hailed from it.
Sera: A different world, one might say… ::wincing, knowing that the use of idioms would not serve her here::
The man tilted his head slightly, as if contemplating what she said. Or perhaps he was thinking of a scathing remark to be delivered in a quintessential Vulcan manner that would cut her deeply, but only if she admitted she had such feelings, which tonight at least, she didn’t have the control to deny herself that.
Sera: For the sake of efficiency, I am m’Lyr’Zor.
oO There. That should end whatever this is… Oo
The man turned to look at her fully and raised a brow.
Nalaat: Stating that your home is in Lyr’Taya all but guaranteed that. ::regarding her in a manner that indicated that he too was thinking of how to be efficient:: Do you believe I am…scandalized, knowing this?
Sera gaped at him, and as her face felt utterly bizarre, perhaps she actually was physically expressing her incredulity.
Sera: Every Vulcan I have ever told has never…not been.
Nalaat nodded considering.
Nalaat:
As you are here, on a Federation installation, in a simulated Vulcan portico, very far from Jia'anKahr, I will postulate you have not chosen a profession that feeds into the rumors and innuendos regarding your clan’s unsavory dealings.
Sera ducked her head in an attempt to hide the single laugh at his rather
'diplomatic' observation.
Sera: That is quite astute of you...?
She studied him, waiting for the inevitable rebuffment that she had experienced outside of her clan's
landholdings.
Nalaat: Very well, S’Ers-a M’Lyr’Zor. I am Nalaat M’Hgrtcha. Are you new to the district?
Sera breathed out slowly, regaining some semblance of control before answering him.
Sera: No. My quarters are…some distance from here.
Nalaat: Starfleet then. It is hard to determine such things when one is not wearing their uniform.
She ducked her head in response to his humor. He was not incorrect…it was hard to tell when one was wearing a netting dress that was decidedly un-Vulcan.
Nalaat: And your mate? Is he here with you?
[To Be Continued in Part 2]
Lieutenant JG Sera
Engineering Officer
SB 118 Ops
J239812S14